Tag Archives: Curriculum

Money Saving Fail!

Curriculum can cost a lot.

In case you did not know.

curriculum

I try to save costs some by getting as many history books as I can from the library but some of the other stuff requires me to purchase the book.

I bought some of my curriculum from a second hand store for homeschoolers called Bibliomania in Tulsa.

firstlanguagelessons

I bought First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 3 from them.

It was only slightly cheaper than buying it on Amazon and it came in this binding because that is what the original owner preferred.

I wish I had bought the one that had not been cut up like this because it is harder to store in the binder.

With Level 3 the boys needed worksheets, which I would need to buy new.

After looking at their site, I got the bright idea to buy the PDF version instead.

I made sure it was okay to print two copies of it since I had two students using it(my 2nd and 3rd grader do a lot of the same work).

worksheets

So I have been printing the boys worksheets for the school year from the PDF version of the workbook.

It has been a pain.

For one, it is 352 pages!

That is a lot of printing.

I finally decided to figure out if I was actually saving enough money to warrant the extra work.

I took the cost of the bundle of paper we buy and divided it by cost per sheet of paper, than multiplied it by the number of sheets we print.

$5.23

Not bad.

Than I took the cost of ink for the printer and the number of pages it says you get per ink cartridge, divided to cost per sheet and multiplied it by how many sheets we print.

$35.05

OUCH.

After adding the cost of the PDF file my total price for printing it myself?

$55.28!

The cost of buying two workbooks?

$33.78

Fail…

I am buying the workbooks next year.

Have you ever tried to save some money and ended up spending more?

First Day & Curriculum 2014-2015!

This is some of what I will be using for curriculum this year to teach 2nd&3rd grade.

curriculum

Math – RightStart Level C (I am hoping to finish Level C by Christmas and start Level D after our break) we have been doing RightStart since we started Kindergarten with my oldest.

 Grammar – First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Level 3

Writing – Handwriting Without Tears 3rd Grade Cursive

Spelling – All About Spelling Level 3

Reading – I will still choose appropriate books for the boys to improve in their reading.

It has worked well in previous years.

I do like to include a book or story that has reading comprehension included once in a while so I can make sure they are retaining what they read.

I will be tying Science, Geography, and History together again.

Check out more about that, here.

I will still be using the “Timetables of History” but also “The Big Book of History” and  the timeline for the Pharaohs from Answers in Genesis.

http://daniellehuddlestonphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/timeline.jpg

I don’t have all of my books yet for science and history but will try to share what we use each month as we go.

Since yesterday was our first day and a holiday we did not start right away.

bikeride

The boys and I rode bikes while Nick ran.

It was a great way to start our school day!

table

Since we had a late start and Nick was home, we did not do all of the subjects.

You might have also noticed that we have moved our school area.

It is now in the living room and dining room.

wall

I am really liking my dining room wall covered in school posters and our timeline.

working

writing

study

Cursive was a struggle at first but they started to remember how to form their letters after a while.

cursive

Both boys were so excited about learning that they did several projects on their own after school finished!

I always call the day a success when that happens!

icecream

We also finally made Ice Cream in a Bag!

peachicecream

Maybe we need to make more today…

How was your first day?

Curriculum 2013-2014!!!

curriculum

I thought I would share a peek into what our curriculum will look like this school year!

Math~RightStart, this will be our third year using this. I did not care for it much the 1st year because it seemed like a lot of work but it is growing on me!

It is still a lot of work for me but it a lot of hands on activities for the boys and they seem to really grasp concepts.

The only thing to watch is, it is by level instead of grade. I was a little too laid back and used the same book for K-1st, I later found out that Level A is really Kindergarten not 1st grade.

Now we are trying to go through two books in one year so my oldest will be getting the right grade level.

Writing~Handwriting Without Tears

Spelling~All About Spelling

Reading~I chose books at their reading level and have them read aloud to me. This has worked really well for us.

I will be tying Science, Geography, and History together again.

Check out more about that, here.

science timeline

We are learning about Creation Science for our first month or two.

I highly recommend Lee Stobel’s “Case for a Creator for kids”!

It explains things in such an easy to understand way.

shelf

Here is my little shelf, jam packed full!

Makes me happy!

Bring on 1st and 2nd grade!